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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22508500">It All Started in New Mexico</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanaticreader16/pseuds/fanaticreader16'>fanaticreader16</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Femslash February, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:28:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,515</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22508500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanaticreader16/pseuds/fanaticreader16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How Jane and Darcy became JaneandDarcy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jane Foster/Darcy Lewis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Now is the Start</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A couple of Femslash February prompts with Jane x Darcy. This chapter’s prompt is Begin. The title is from the song Now is the Start by A Fine Frenzy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Darcy couldn’t believe they were standing in Avengers Tower. She’s pretty sure her mouth has been open in awe since they arrived. Going by the consistently disapproving looks Jane was giving her, it has. But Jane’s not much better with her wide eyes, and she practically drooled over the lab space they were shown. So she could just deal with Darcy’s awe.</p>
<p>“Okay, that just about does it. These are your rooms, let Jarvis know if you need anything, and your presence is expected a welcome party tonight in the common room. Jarvis will also answer any questions you have about that. See ya!” Tony left them standing outside their apartment, still looking dazed.</p>
<p>They let themselves into their rooms and their mouths dropped again.</p>
<p>“Daaang Janey. We’ve moved up in the world!” Darcy exclaimed, giggling only slightly hysterically. Jane was still looking around the apartment like she didn’t quite know how she got there. Then she started laughing and ran wrapped Darcy in a hug.</p>
<p>“Oh my God, Darcy! Did you see those labs?? Can we go down now and get set up??”</p>
<p>Darcy hugged Jane back, “No, Janey. Tonight we unpack, go to the welcome party, and get some sleep, and then tomorrow we’ll go down to the labs and get them set up to your liking, okay?” Darcy knew if she didn’t put her foot down, Jane would keep pushing to go down. Jane pouted a little, but finally agreed, and they got most of their bags unpacked before it was time to get ready and head to the party.</p>
<p>As they stepped out of the elevator on the common room floor, Darcy realized that she had been picturing a completely different kind of party. This was way more intimate than she was picturing. All of the Avengers (minus Thor, who she knew was offworld) were there, plus Pepper Potts, that scary Maria lady from Shield, and - was that Coulson?? Well, at least she could count on the night being interesting! Still, she grabbed Jane’s hand, and Jane squeezed it in silent support.</p>
<p>A few hours later, Darcy was well on her way to being drunk, and Jane was well past that, and was going to regret her life in the morning if she didn’t stop drinking soon, which meant Darcy needed to stop her. As Darcy was fighting Jane for her latest drink, Pepper looked over with a soft smile from the other couch, “How did this begin, then?”</p>
<p>Darcy looked up from her struggle, and Jane took the opportunity to take another giant gulp of her drink in victory. Darcy pulled it away before she could take another drink and kissed her cheek in apology. Jane shrugged, snuggled into Darcy’s arm, and closed her eyes. Darcy smiled down at her girlfriend and then looked back to Pepper.</p>
<p>“Well,” she said, “it all started back in New Mexico…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Won’t You Hold Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The prompt for this chapter is Stars :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Well,” she said, “it all started back in New Mexico…”</em>
</p><p>New Mexico, post-Thor, was pretty boring, in Darcy’s opinion. However, she knew that after all the craziness, she couldn’t just leave - somehow that would be even <em>more</em> boring? So, even though her internship was over, and she should be heading back to school, she stayed with Jane. Shield still had a small presence around the town (probably to make sure nobody broke their NDAs), and Darcy made a game of trying to spot which roof the suits would be hanging out on each day. She would reward herself with a slurpee from the 7/11 when she was right. It was a bonus that Jane loved slurpees, so it was also a way to pull Jane away from her manic working, in Thor’s absence. In the time Darcy had been Jane’s intern, she found she really liked the tiny astrophysicist. They’d been through crazy circumstances together, but even before that Darcy liked Jane’s drive to prove everyone wrong, to show them that all her theories were right. Darcy only hoped that Shield would eventually let Jane publish her findings from Thor’s visit, so that Jane could shove it in everyone’s faces, how right she was.</p><p>After Erik left to go work on some super-top-secret project for Shield (super shady, if you asked her), she and Jane had even more time to talk and really get to know each other in more than an intern-and-boss kind of way. They’d have long (sometimes drunken) talks on the roof by the fire (“Is your bridge anything like Rainbow Road?” “...did you just compare this astronomical wonder to Mario Kart?”) and became friends. Best friends even. Darcy still had to drag Jane away from her work occasionally (okay, daily), but it got easier over time for her to tell when Jane had hit a wall and could use a break (Jane would almost never stop on her own). That’s when Darcy would swoop in with bribes of snacks, or alcohol, or mindless television to pull Jane away from her work. Or, if those didn’t work, she’d play the “we just survived an alien invasion and I am having trouble processing” card (which, really, wasn’t a lie; there were days Darcy almost couldn’t believe everything with Thor had actually happened. It was too crazy). Those were times Jane would come away to try to comfort Darcy and commiserate over the insanity that was their lives. And so they continued to grow closer.</p><p>Darcy started to realize she might be in trouble one night when she and Jane were up on the roof. They were sitting by the fire, looking up at the stars, drinking, and talking about everything and nothing. Darcy glanced over at Jane at one point while Jane was staring up at the Milky Way with longing in her eyes, talking about some aspect of her research, and all Darcy could think was how beautiful Jane looked, with firelight in her hair, her passion for the subject lighting up her face from the inside. Later, Darcy would blame her thoughts on the alcohol, but deep down she knew she was lying to herself. And when it kept happening, she had to admit it to herself - she was in love with her best friend.</p><p>Even after her self-admission, Darcy still decided to push her feelings down, and just keep going about her days normally - she saw Jane with Thor, the fascination and attraction there. She knew she didn’t have a chance with Jane, and she didn’t want to make things weird by bringing it up. It got harder and harder, though, the more time she spent alone with Jane. Which was a lot of time, now that Erik was gone. Darcy’s feelings kept growing and she didn’t know what to do with them. So she kept doing what she did best, and was a kickass friend and assistant to Jane, and enjoyed the nights they would relax on the roof under the stars.</p><p>It all came to a head one of those rooftop nights. They weren’t drinking anything stronger than tea, this time, and were mostly quiet. Jane would occasionally point out a constellation or another wonder of the night to Darcy, and Darcy would respond with the appropriate enthusiasm, plus some random knowledge, if she had any, about the mythology behind constellation (“That’s Pleiades over there. They’re also called the Seven Sisters.” “Oh! Did you know that in multiple cultures it’s said they’re running away from a man, represented by Orion?”). The quiet atmosphere, the vast universe above them, the crackling of the fire...Darcy decided to be bold. </p><p>She’s not sure where the courage came from, but she figured, now or never. She looked over at Jane, ready to tell her, and found Jane already looking back at her. Feeling like this was promising, Darcy took a deep breath and let everything pour out of her - how happy she was they’d become such close friends, how her feelings had been growing over the past few months, how she really hoped this didn’t make things awkward, but she felt like she needed to say something or she was going to burst. She probably would have kept talking (once she got going, her nerves made it hard to stop), but Jane reached over and took Darcy’s hand in her own, lacing their fingers. Darcy’s babble immediately cut off and she looked down at their hands, then back up at Jane. Jane smiled gently and told Darcy she’d been feeling the same way, but didn’t want to make things uncomfortable since Darcy was meant to be her intern, how she’d been determined not to say anything, but was so glad that Darcy did, and how since Darcy’s internship was wrapped up at this point, there was nothing stopping her anymore, now that she knew Darcy felt the same way. Darcy’s face was hurting from how wide her smile was. She was giddy with happiness. This conversation had gone way better than she’d ever thought it could. And when Darcy leaned in for a kiss, so did Jane, and Darcy’s heart soared as high as the stars shining above.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it :) Also, the fact about the Seven Sisters is true. In (at least) both Greek mythology and Australian Aboriginal astronomy the Seven Sisters are said to be running from a man, represented by the Orion constellation, or some stars in that constellation, which I think is super interesting.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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